Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Bed Time & High Blood Sugar Restlessness

After three days of beautiful blood sugars that didn’t go above 190, the streak was broken last night at 10 pm and was followed by a few hours of the tune, "Tossin And Turnin,"blaring through my head, literally and figuratively. FTR: I love the "Animal House" Soundtrack. ####

I couldn’t wait to go to bed last night, I was exhausted and I knew that once my head hit the pillow - I’d be out like a light.

Except that’s not what happened at all. I tried to sleep, I really did, but I kept tossing and turning so much that the lyrics from the song,‘Tossin And Turnin’ by Bobby Lewis kept going through my head, which made me even more wide awake because it's such a catchy tune and I can't help but start to sing it whenever I think of it... but I digress. I had an idea of what the problem was, but I needed to confirm it. I turned on the light, grabbed my meter from the nightstand, did a check and was 266. Just what I thought - I’d done a site change at 10 pm because of two challenging blood sugars (253 and 270) in a row after 3 days of truly beautiful numbers and an itchy site that was only 30 hours old.

Ok, so this is weird but it's also good: In the last couple of years I've noticed that when I go to bed feeling super exhausted, but then feel super restless, wide awake and can’t fall asleep once I'm in bed, there’s a good chance it’s because my blood sugar is going north. Which is really strange because you'd think I'd be all types of sluggish, like I am when my blood sugar is elevated during the day or when I wake up with a high Bg - But that hasn't been the case when it happens at bedtime.

Sidebar:I ALWAYS get a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach & right near my bellybutton if I feel my blood sugar begins to head south before bed - it will keep me up for obvious reasons if I ignore it - Never fails.

Before changing out the new site I had to make sure that it was the infusion site the was the culprit. I did a correction bolus and waited 40 minutes, during which time I was still feeling restless and wide awake as I sat on my couch and scrolled down my FaceBook feed. When I tested again I was 263. Yep, it was definitely the site. I changed it out & committed to waiting another 40 minutes. But 20 minutes in, I started feeling tired. It was almost 2 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, of course I was tired - Hell, I should have been asleep! But in my gut I knew I’d nailed the culprit. Nailed it or not though, it was 1:59 a.m. and I was spent. Finally, at 2:17 I checked again and my blood sugar was 221 - I made a beeline for my bed and this time, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I woke up five hours later with a 150 bg and a slight, (but not as terrible as it could have been,) high blood sugar hangover.

SO long story longer: I’m incredibly grateful that my body still gives me recognizable signs after 37 years of living with diabetes - but I know the signs aren't full proof or permanent.

I live alone, I don’t have a CGM and I need to consider getting one for a multitude of reasons. If I'd had a cgm last night, I would have been able to spot that the arrows up trend and I probably would gotten more than 5 hours of sleep. Also, I'm really curious, am I the only one who gets uber restless and can’t fall asleep if my blood sugar begins to head super north at bedtime? We're all different and your diabetes may vary, but what unusual idiosyncrasies/signs does your body give you when it comes to diabetes?

My son gets really restless when his sugar is high...he's rolling all over the bed like he can't get comfortable. When he's low, he's impossible to wake up, but when he's high, his eyes pop open quickly and he's bouncing. I'm learning the signs, since he's not able to accurately communicate what the issue is.

Lately.. well for some time.. my pillow seems to be carb infused. It seems like more often than not as soon as my head hit it my blood sugars go up. However, there are times when my CGM graph in the morning is a nearly perfect flat line. Those are the mornings that it takes me 25 minutes to tell my hubby about the dream I had. The more in range my bg is over night, the more vivid my dreams.

It sounds like you are very in tune with you body. My son is 9, and has been T1D for just 6 months. We are still figuring everything out, including high sugar numbers with the pump. I am curious about what you referred to as a high sugar hangover. I've never heard of this, can you tell me more?

This has never happened when I was trying to go to sleep, but when my BG is falling fairly rapidly I get an icky nauseated feeling. It is similar to the feeling I get when I am in an air plane that is descending. There is no way I would be able to go to sleep if I felt like that!

YES! I thought I was the only one! If my blood sugar is above 180-190 like you, I just cant sleep or I am restless and I get hot very easily and I have crazy dreams. I also cannot sleep if I am low or going low. I just lose a lot of freakin sleep over diabetes and my Dexcom constantly waking me up. I agree you need to get a CGM and asap! I cant live without my Dexcom, period. Even if it does drive me a bit nuts at times. =D

I am the same too! Super restless if i'm running high. When I wake up it's usually a different story since I have dawn phenomenon, I don't want to get out of bed! Although also suspiciously awake if i'm heading low... I wonder if it's to do with trying to be relaxed at night time/chemical releases? Interesting to know!

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